Claire Ashman is a remarkable woman. She grew up in a sect, a break away from the Catholic Church, and at 18 married a man who would lead her into an even more sinister community. For almost a decade she lived by the whim of a man who called himself "Little Pebble", the leader of a doomsday cult called The Order of St. Charbel. Forced to join the religious order, she took a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience and attended prayer sessions three times a day, It was the concern for the safety of her eight young children that eventually saw her bravely flee with her kids from the secretive cult , led by convicted rapist and pedophile William Kamm, on the NSW south coast. After escaping the cult, Claire had no idea about the outside world or how to survive on her own. But survive she did. Claire went on to forge an amazing life, is an author, a coach and has delivered no less that four Ted X talks. She has remarried and raising her children in Brisbane, Australia.
Claire joins host, Sandy Lowres in the Confessional (ironic - yes, we know!) to tell Part 2 of Claire's remarkable journey of survival. (*Note: We made a conscious decision to have Claire's story told in two parts so that she could tell it fully - we recommend you listen to Part 1 first for context).

Claire Ashman is the author of Lessons of a Cult Survivor.
You can buy her remarkable book here:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Lessons-Cult-Survivor-Claire-Ashman-ebook/dp/B07G7276P5

You can watch Claire Ashman's Ted X Talks and find out more about Claire here:
www.claireashman.com


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The Good Girl Confessional and Wb40 - Women Beyond Forty team acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands this podcast is recorded and researched on - the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong Peoples of the Kulin Nation and we pay our respects to the Elders past, present and emerging.